Soup is one of the most versatile and easily made meals on the planet. It can be elegant, hearty or simple, all depending on whether it's for a dinner party, for a winter-warmer or just to use up the leftovers that aren't looking so hot in the fridge. Whatever your need for a soup dish, there are plenty to choose from.

Steps

1

Use the right ingredients. If the soup is dainty and for a dinner party, use fresh ingredients of good quality. If the soup is meant to take care of wilting veggies and leftovers, that's fine but keep such a soup for a hearty family meal and avoid using it to impress the guests.

Many soups that require a meat or fish stock can have a vegetable stock substitution to serve vegetarians or to make the soup lighter in taste.

2

Blend cooled soups only. Many a person has had a rude shock and even some nasty burns from trying to blend a soup while still hot. Rushing the blending is not safe and therefore, a soup that requires blending should be made plenty ahead to avoid taking shortcuts that can injure.

3

Freeze leftover soup. In most cases, soup is fine to freeze. It's also easy to thaw, as all you need to do is throw it back in a saucepan and reheat, and the thawing will occur as it melts back into soup form.

4

Serve soup with an accompaniment. Usually soup is not eaten alone, unless it's extremely filling and hearty. The most usual accompaniments to soup include:

Crusty white bread (and butter)

Garlic or herb bread

Dumplings (added to the soup)

Croutons (sprinkled on the soup)

Scones or muffins

Whatever else you have at the back of the freezer that can be zapped back to life quickly.

Method1

Vegetable Soups

1

Make a single vegetable soup. Although other flavors are usually added to a soup focused on a single vegetable, such a soup is predominantly the flavor of the main vegetable used. Examples include:

Method3

Dinner Party Soups

1

Choose a soup for your dinner party. Dinner party soups should be based on rich, fresh and unique ingredients. They should focus on the types of soups that people are less inclined to make everyday at home, just so that the experience is something more interesting. The following soups are ideal choices for a dinner party:

Miso soup can also be made with bean curd added to the soup, making a heartier soup ideal for winter.

3

Make soups from other cuisines. There are soup recipes in every type of cuisine, including Indian, Thai, Mexican, Moroccan, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese, French, German, and so on. Borrow a good book on the particular cuisine and you'll likely find a few good choices in it for an authentic soup. Some ideas to help get you started include:

Community Q&A

If this question (or a similar one) is answered twice in this section, please click here to let us know.

Tips

Soup doesn't need to follow a recipe. You can make a soup from chopped up veggies and leftovers, stock and favorite flavorings such as salt and pepper and curry powder. For more ideas, see How to make soup without a recipe.

Note that not everyone likes cream-based soups, as they tend to be quite rich. You could substitute milk (dairy or non-dairy varieties) to lessen the richness but this will affect the outcome of the soup.